Geopolitics of the Hegemons and Genocide of the oppressed

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 July 2015, 11:56 GMT]“The Eezham Tamils occupying the strategic coasts in North-East Sri Lanka facing the Bay of Bengal, the Baloch occupying the coasts where the Persian Gulf meets the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Kachins occupying the strategic regions of Burma and the Rohinygas situated near the Isthmus of Kra have all been victims of the geopolitical dynamics involved in the collusion between competing world establishments and Asian nation-states. Such a future scenario warrants alternative measures to overcome the political injustice of imperialistic geopolitics,” writes Norway-based Eezham Tamil anthropology academic Athithan Jayapalan. Eezham Tamils, being the victims of an internationally orchestrated structural genocide, should take the lead in edifying the oppressed nations of the world in building an alternative global political network, writes the second-generation Diaspora academic.

Full text of the article by Athithan Jayapalan follows:

Athithan Jayapalan

The Indian Ocean region, in particular around the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea, has taken central stage in the accelerated global geopolitical competition between the U.S.A and China. China’s recent step in launching the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative, have effectively challenged the U.S – Japan economical hegemony hitherto exercised through the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Paralleled with the economic dimensions the geopolitical rivalry between China and U.S unfolds itself in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia through geostrategic approaches pursued systematically by both establishments.

The U.S pursues what is called the Pivot Asia strategy, concentrating on winning allies in the Indian Ocean and South East Asian region, while securing military, economic and strategic interests in key locations. China is on its hand pursuing the String of Pearls strategy, in which China facilitate infrastructure investments and finance to countries in the Indian Ocean region in return to gain access to or control over harbours and ports, air fields and industry facilities.

The regional power India, guided by the Rajagurus at South Block and the ruling elites in New Delhi, are caught in the midst of two titans.

While projecting the SAARC as an alternative platform for Indian Ocean countries, and as independent of the U.S and China, the Indian state too follows a free market styled state to state interaction and plays its bid in the geopolitical gambit.

The Indian foreign policy is ought to buy friends through co-optation and appeasement while promoting its image as a regional power at international scenarios. Contrary to Indian officials’ self-proclaimed image of an independent India, New Delhi wary of the growing Chinese assertion maintains a strategic partnership with Washington.

The Indian strategy in regards to Sri Lanka follows structural ties with Colombo, which proves instrumental in supressing Tamils rights. New Delhi facilitates demands made by Colombo concerning Eezham Tamils, in return for political, economic and military concessions.

While Colombo readily deals with New Delhi, and kept them integrated during the conduct of the genocidal war in 2009, various elite camps among the Sinhala political leadership are largely oriented towards either Washington or Beijing.

In this gambit between the establishments of international power, the oppressed, the wretched of the Indian Ocean becomes prey.

China and the U.S- U.K axis are each negotiating with and facilitating the interests of ruling elites in genocidal nation-states such as Burma, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India too has proven to practice such an approach by aiding Colombo.

Incidentally the Indian state has intensified multiple counter-insurgency campaigns directed at the liberation movements of various nations in the North-East of the Indian sub-continent.

In terms of overseeing counter-insurgency and facilitating economic progress New Delhi promotes itself as a regional patron. Regionally it has endorsed states embroiled in genocide and it has aided Sri Lankan and Burmese authorities in arresting rebel activities.

Concerning the island of Sri Lanka, since the 1990’s Indo-Lanka relations have been characterized by increased structural cooperation between the Indian and Sri Lankan armed forces and intelligence. This has ensured the continuation of Indian state assistance to the Sri Lankan state and the perpetuating of structural genocide against the Eezham Tamil nation.

In such a matrix of intrigues, games, and rivalry between the powers of the world, the condition of the oppressed in the Indian Ocean become inextricably linked to each other.

The present state of the Kachins and Rohyngyas of Burma, reflects the renewed the state of aggression by the Indian state against the suppressed peoples of Manipur, Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram in the North-Eastern states of India. Burma and India has also been coordinating intelligence and border patrol authorities to enhance the Indian counterinsurgency against the liberation struggles of Assamese, Naga, Mizo and other people of North East India.

In Burma, the state, emboldened by western appraises and interactions following the Military juntas’ liberalization policies, intensified its counterinsurgency against the Kachin nation, breaking a 17 year old truce in 2013.

While China and the West see fit to deal individually with the Burmese state, such dynamics serves the Bamar elites in enhancing their genocidal policies towards non-Buddhists. Subsequently the Kachins and the Muslim Roghingyas’ have been subjected to increasing violence since 2012.

The Burmese, Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani state have all interacted with each other under the guise of SAARC and through the Washington and Beijing centred alliances in accommodating the strategic interests of various powers while effectuating aid in enhancing counterinsurgency and structuralising genocide.

The modus operandi of the geo-political cold war between the establishments in Washington, Beijing and New Delhi in the Indian Ocean region, has hitherto followed in aiding larger nations controlling the post-colonial states in annihilating the sovereign political power and the national characteristics of smaller nations.

In Sri Lanka, various competing world establishments each aided the state in pursuing a genocidal counterinsurgency war to crush the Tamil rebel movement and to beleaguer the Tamil homeland.

Recent declassified documents from the US state department revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank alongside important US statesmen were informed about the unfolding genocide in 2009, but accepted civilians’ deaths as ‘collateral damage’ as they wanted the LTTE destroyed.

With the direct and indirect blessing of the establishments in Washington and New Delhi, Colombo carried out the process of annihilation.

The Sri Lankan model proved paradigm setting within counterinsurgency as the Sri Lankan state under the guise of defeating ‘terrorism’ executed with international legitimacy a genocidal military onslaught.

Since the war’s end the state has enforced an omnipresent military occupation subjugating Tamils and their homeland in the North-East of the Island.

Military, economic and political resources are given to these nation-states in enhancing their counterinsurgency capacities towards pursuing a military solution to national questions of the oppressed. Such structural assistance becomes a central component in perpetuating structural genocide and seems to colour the character of the geopolitical dynamics of the present.

The International assistance provided to states committing genocide against other indigenous nations, proves the complicity of world establishments in the structural oppression.

Furthermore these establishments vie to contain the nationhood of the oppressed nations and thus persist on denying their inalienable right to self-determination.

Various nation-states in the Indian Ocean commit various forms of genocidal violence while retaining the legitimacy of the international community and in return the state clears the land and secures strategic locations on behalf of the various international and regional establishments.

The access to and control of strategic locations in the Indian Ocean region, forms the central pillar of respective geostrategic policies of both Washington and Beijing.
Suh concession is meant to check each other’s sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean region.
The Indian Ocean is the third largest container of water in the world, and oversees important sea trade routes and accounts for a significant share of the world sea trade.

The drive to access economic, strategic and military interests and concessions from nation-states in South Asia is centrifugal in the unfolding process of geopolitical competition between international and regional establishments in the Indian Ocean for the sea trade and lines of communication pillared around it.

The Eezham Tamils occupying the strategic coasts in North-East Sri Lanka facing the Bay of Bengal, the Baloch occupying the coasts where the Persian Gulf meets the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Kachins occupying the strategic regions of Burma and the Rohinygas situated near the Isthmus of Kra have all been victims of the geopolitical dynamics involved in the collusion between competing world establishments and Asian nation-states.

Such a future scenario warrants alternative measures to overcome the political injustice of imperialistic geopolitics. Eezham Tamils, being the victims of an internationally orchestrated structural genocide, should take the lead in edifying the oppressed nations of the world in building an alternative global political network, narrative and platform to aide in emancipating their respective national, linguistic and territorial rights.